A reply to Paul Trewhela on RW Johnson

An imaginary trip to the land of theAnthropoid Apes: RW Johnson's racist outburst, apartheid nostalgia and other hysterics

"The basic question in attacking is not how to kill the enemy group---that is usually impossible---but what direction to attack from."-- Go proverb.

In 2010, RW Johnson wrote:

"We are being besieged by baboons again. This happens quite often here on the Constantiaberg mountains (an extension of the Table Mountain range). Baboons are common in the Cape and they are a great deal larger than the vervet monkeys I was used to dealing with in KwaZulu-Natal. They jump onto roofs, overturn dustbins and generally make a nuisance of themselves; since their teeth are very dirty, their bite can be poisonous. They seem to have lots of baby baboons - it's been a very mild winter and so spring is coming early - and they're looking for food. The local dogs don't like them but appear to have learned their lesson from the last baboon visit: then, a large rottweiler attacked the apes, who calmly tore it limb from limb.

"Meanwhile in the squatter camps, there is rising tension as the threat mounts murderous violence against foreign migrants once the World Cup finishes on 11 July. These migrants - Zimbabweans, Malawians, Congolese, Angolans, Somalis and others - are often refugees and they too are here essentially searching for food. The Somalis are the most enterprising and have set up successful little shops in the townships and squatter camps, but several dozen Somali shopkeepers have already been murdered, clearly at the instigation of local black shopkeepers who don't appreciate the competition. The ANC is embarrassed by it all and has roundly declared that there will be no such violence. The truth is that no one knows. The place worst hit by violence in the last xenophobic riots here was De Doorns and the army moved into that settlement last week, clearly anticipating trouble. The tension is ominous and makes for a rather schizoid atmosphere as the Cup itself mounts towards its climax."

The comparison and the contrast between baboons that are looking for food and the African migrants who "flood" Cape Town in search of food too is the straw that broke camel's back. [RW Johnson had actually wrote in a different article: "more and more of Africa floods towards Cape Town..."[i]]

Seventy three 73 academics and writers from across the globe wrote to the London Review of Books (LRB) stating that RW Johnson is "peddling highly offensive, age-old racist stereotypes". They further pointed out that "we find it baffling therefore that you continue to publish work by RW Johnson that, in our opinion, is often stacked with the superficial and the racist."

The LRB was forced to apologise for publishing RW Johnson's racist rant. The LRB claimed that it was "an error of judgment on our part to publish it. We're sorry. We have since taken the post down." The editor of the LRB, Mary Kay-Wilmers, admitted in an article that appeared in the Guardian that "we didn't read it [RW Johnson's racist rant] carefully enough, we didn't see it, we didn't imagine it."

What is it that Mary Kay-Wilmers and her cohorts didn't see and imagine? What they didn't see is the historical context and the racist colonial canon from which RW Johnson draws from in his article. For a very long time, white colonisers viewed blacks as the "missing link" between the anthropoid apes and civilized (white) mankind (Brantlinger 1985). Hence, French anthropologists like Julian-Joseph Virey could write in 1837: "The skull of a negro is thick, and sutures very closely united. ... their propensity to sensations and nervous excitements, is excessive. All these signs indicate a greater animal disposition than in the white" (Virey: 167).

A logical historical reading of RW Johnson's article would take this into account. However, a self-serving ahistorical and irrational reading would read like Paul Trewhela's response to my article. Perhaps thinking that he is the only person who can read English and critically analyse arguments, Paul Trewhela writes that the LRB censored RW Johnson.

"The citation below contains my response on the blog of the London Review of Books to an act of censorship carried out by the LRB against Johnson in July 2010, following a smear circulated by his political and academic opponents. That smear, reproduced by Majavu in his article on ZNet, was as shamefully unproven as Majavu's, and set a bad precedent."

Seventy three writers and academics from across the globe did not find it hard to locate RW Johnson's racist outburst within a racist colonial canon that has always likened blacks to apes, monkeys and baboons. Arrogant and irrational, Paul Trewhela writes that the 73 writers and academics who signed the letter gave "no citation from Johnson's offending text, bar three words." It does not astonish me that this kind of denial and self-serving illusion comes from one of the liberal dinosaurs from the old days. In fact I expect it.

Apartheid nostalgia and other hysterics

Although RW Johnson manages to tone down his rants and ravings in his other writings, however he does make it clear that he writes from the point of view that reinforces white supremacist perspectives. For instance, writing about transformation in South African universities, RW Johnson argues that transformation in reality means that "university entrance criteria would be ratcheted down so as to make it easier for black students from lousy schools to gain entry but the pretence was that standards has been maintained."

RW Johnson continues:

"...black academics who were often clearly rather weak would be appointed in preference to whites who were often stronger on the pretence that these blacks were at least equally good or better; and finally, as the research output of these new appointees was often derisory, all manner of strategems would be adopted to disguise the resultant deterioration in the university's research profile - retired, honorary or supernumerary faculty would have their research counted as part of the university's output, and so on."

RW Johnson is of the view that black Vice Chancellors are intellectually inferior to Vice Chancellors who oversaw universities during the apartheid heydays.

"You just had to look at the modern breed of vice-chancellor and compare them to the old breed - Duminy, Malherbe, Bozzoli - who had fought for academic freedom against apartheid, to understand how much had been lost. Not just in courage and intellectual gravitas, but in intellectual depth and, indeed, in truthfulness."

Extolling the virtues of apartheid, RW Johnson points out that:

"African nationalism entirely lacks the institution-building skills of the earlier waves. English-speaking whites bequeathed the country its major liberal universities, a network of private schools, key public corporations and a series of Anglo-churches. Afrikaners left behind them Afrikaans financial institutions, the DRC, the Afrikaans universities and hoerskools. African nationalism has built no distinctive institutions of its own outside the party itself."

What's next? An eulogy of the Nationalsozialismus's military might, engineering and scientific breakthroughs?

[i] Writing about xenophobia in South African media, Danso and MacDonald (2000) point out that headlines are particularly bad in this respect, with bold titles like, ‘Illegals in SA add to decay of cities', ‘6 million migrants headed our way', ‘Africa floods into Cape Town', and ‘francophone invasion' being common examples. "In total, 25% of the articles surveyed used sensational headlines and 9% used sensational metaphors in the text of the report."

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What to do Mr Trewhela? (Part 1)Yup, an unsurprising and illogical parsing of the issues.... but then, Paul (Trewhela), what did you expect from the ANC men?

Intellectual rigour?

Perchance a democratic demeanor?

If not, then what?

Mr Majavu does, I . .more agree with you Paul, take and parses what Johnson wrote complete out of context, for example, he places the achievements of Afrikaners (who built an excellent Afrikaans school system) with apartheid. A truly unsurprising allegation, as are all his other allegations.

But that is not the point.

The point is that this approach from the ANC, their theft, their lies, is something I could have told you about in 1985, but SAcan liberals live in a world where blacks, and the ANC, have been sacrelised beyond criticism. Neither RW nor you PT, are allowed to criticize what is holy and sacred. And I am afraid that if RWs allegations are parsed by your standard Leftist from the West, that they will skewer him and agree with Mr Majavu.

The ANC was placed, by the Black Sash Ladies, by SAcan Liberals, by their marketing in the West, as beyong reproach. They can kill, steal, oppress, ban and lie as much as they want to, but neither you nor anyone else can criticize them in civil company, and no Western journo or activist will say anything negative about them for fear of the wrath of the Western Left. . .less

by JVR on April 15 2012, 19:11Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

What to do Mr Trewhela? (Part 2)So what is to be done?

Well, first of all, endure it.

Endure the insults. This will place you exactly where Afrikaners were since the landing of Somerset 1820, at the mercy of insults, physical and verbal, from the English Empire . .more builders.

Stay the course. This will place you right there with Paul Kruger, Andries Pretorius, Hertzog, and yes, Malan, men who stayed the course in the face of withering criticism and insults.

Built your lager. (This is so obvious it goes without saying -- but wall yourself off, let the assaults and insults roll of your back, their is no point in fighting on the territory chosen by your opponent -- and I am afraid that by taking on a sacred issue, such as the above, you are set up for losing in a big way -- the West is on Mr Majavu side, and he cannot lose).

Bide your time. (Yes, I know SAcan Liberals worked hard to give birth to the Monster called the ANC, but he is unleashed and there is no turning back. This Monster is the earthly legacy of SAcan Liberals and the Black Sash Ladies. Defeating the Monster will take a generation of struggle -- it is not going to happen in your lifetime. It is best to try to sow the seeds which may grow to undo him, and that will take some planning.) . .less

by JVR on April 15 2012, 19:21Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

J.V.R.Your current oppressors are not coming at you with Lee Enfields in open combat like the Brits did (they know better than to try!), but are just as determined.

Killing slowly, farmer by farmer, has the same morally destructive effect as the . .more camps, but avoids international condemnation. Besides, you are the bad guys, remember? Crimes against humanity and all. Far worse than the Hutsis, Amin or Sese Seko. You were held to a higher expectation than the primitives. who were not expected to know better, them being oppressed and all.

My advise to you is to go hensop! You have lost the battle, but the war continues. It took 45 years from Milner to Malan, 45 years of planning, educating, laying foundations and whiteanting, but you Dutchmen won against your conquorers.

You can do it again, you have the intellect and street-smarts to regain power. Solidarity of purpose.

Of course you will have to wait until SA has been through the Zim experience which will be rough on you and your kids, but sanity has to prevail eventually, even if in extremity.

Always provided the Chinese do not colonise us first, then we are all slaves working 16 hour days for bread.

by Moor on April 15 2012, 20:37Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@JVRYou don't know what the word "liberal" means. No true liberal ever had any dealings with the ANC, and certainly never with Marxists. It is significant that Marxists, Black Nationalists, the ANC and Right-Wing White extremists have one thing in common: . .more their deep-seated hatred and fear of of liberals. Incidentally, the excellent education system you refer to, was built by the British imperialists during the period of reconstruction after the Anglo-Boer war. The National Party inherited it and -- to their credit (unlike the ANC) -- used it to their advantage. My parents and my teachers at an Afrikaans school were all educated by Lord Milner's education system. (He was a nasty character, but he and the British Empire did give us an excellent education system, which the ANC has systematically destroyed.

You seem to be unable to distinguish between liberals and trendy white radicals. Not the same thing at all. You should get together with Julius Malema and have a nice chat about liberals -- you'll find that you have almost everything in common on this subject.

For your own sake, stop parading your ignorance of our history. . .less

by Sam Sly on April 15 2012, 23:05Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

NutsI have known Johnson well, for more than 40 years. His criticisms may be forthright, even harsh, but to describe him as racist or pro-apartheid is nuts. Peer into the mirror: what we hate in what we see in other people is often a reflection of our own . .more faults. . .less

by Peter on April 15 2012, 23:12Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

by JVR on April 16 2012, 00:01Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

As for your allegation that ....... "No true liberal ever had any dealings with the ANC, and certainly never with Marxists...."

and your comments about ignorance, perhaps you should take some time to read pages 33-37 in "The Liberal Dilemma in South Africa" By Pierre L. Van . .more den Berghe.

The amazing thing to me is always, how little people who today loathes the ANC, know about the rise of that organisation, and more importantly, WHO helped it in that rise to dominance.

And if you assume that an ANC government was inevitable, (that is, that history from 1950 onwards could not have evolved in any other way but to give an hegemonic ANC, then I suggest, Mr Sly Sam, that you consult the wiki page on Hindsight bias. Here is the link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindsight

It continues to amazes me how little modern SAcan knows about the history which both created and enabled the ANC...

... As for the Black Sash Ladies, well they championed the ANC, and I at one time, sat overseas through lectures by Helen Suzman on the virtues of the ANC as the liberating organization for South Africa. I almost puked. . .less

by JVR on April 16 2012, 00:26Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

by QAZ on April 16 2012, 03:11Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

RWJ is an unreconstructed racistRWJ is an unreconstructed racist. I fully agree with Majavu with the exception that i would not waste time with Johnson and others such as JVR. They represent a dying breed even amongst whites.
No one of real significance listens to . .more Johnson.
I believe after the shark ate his leg, he should be allowed some space for fulmination as such is a near death experience to one's mind.
The man is proud to be anti-black and there is not much you can do about it. JVR is a typical fellow traveller. . .less

by themba on April 16 2012, 05:07Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

frankkRWJ is defnitely not a racist, out of context quoting in the article. But surely we know, if the sun doesn't shine, its white peoples fault.

by frank on April 16 2012, 10:01Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

However I can understand why you might be doing so. I would not stoop to being ad hominem, but Trewhela is such an in-your-face pain-in-the-tochis. He’s even worse than Johnson, if . .more that can be imagined, because Trewhela will bang on tediously, in a tone of voice that could strip paint off wood, will bang on at the slightest opportunity about himself and Ruth First & what he write in 1949 and so on. Both really get up one’s nose, I know, as they carry on in their su-superior (as DH Lawrence called it) little voices.

They are merely pasty-faced little white anglo-saxon protestants (even if they were born something else), who have long passed their sell-by dates, who (at least in Johnson’s case) spent too long controlling the keys to the wine cellar at his Oxbridge college. And there’re more just like them, I’m sorry to say. On this very site, there’s a creature who calls himself Plutarch: same species. . .less

by Jeremy Gordin on April 16 2012, 10:56Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Mandisi Majavu - twoBut Johnson is not a racist or even a xenophobe and nor, of course, is Trewhela. In fact, going back now and reading the stuff, I think that the goody-goodies – led by Achille Mmembe, a sweet but completely incomprehensible “thinker” - over-reacted to . .more that piece by Johnson in the LRB. I really don’t think he meant to analogize baboons and black people. He’s more pompous than snide, you know; while Trewhela is dogged with a piercing voice. And the trouble, too, is that there’s often a ghost of “truth” and even sometimes accuracy in what Johnson writes. What’s offensive is what he does with his insight/s and of course his tone.

Nonetheless, you shouldn’t get defensive about this stuff. It ain’t worth it, really. . .less

by Jeremy Gordin on April 16 2012, 10:59Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@JVR (is that Jannie or Jacobus van Rensburg?)Helen Suzman would only have had the opportunity to meet with the intelligentsia of the ANC and knew that, unless the Nats gave the bantu, plurals or whatever their freedom, South Africa was doomed. Unfortunately the Nats had the same mind-set that the . .more ANC has and rejected any sensible recommendations. Thinking Afrikaners realised that Helen Zille's views were the only ones capable of preventing the inevitable blood-bath and slowly the Progs increased in strength.The Nats, alone, are responsible for the horrendous state of affairs that currently blights our nation and its name. If not for them, there would not have been Bantu Education and an evolving and capable black electorate would have been willing and welcome partners in a non-racist South Africa. Alas the Nats realised their folly too late and now we must pay for their sins of omission and commission.

by Anthony Caenazzo on April 16 2012, 12:32Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@ Jeremy GordinHey Jeremy, I don't know either Mr Trewhela, or Mr Johnson personally, but when I compare the quality of their writings and reasoning with yours, believe me, you come second.I am confident they are unscathed by your cheap shot, ad hominems like . .more "pasty-faced little white anglo-saxon protestants". I wonder, however, whether you yourself would be as impervious to their labelling you "a swarthy little Red Sea pedestrian" for example?Fortunately for you, I doubt they would engage you in such a manner.Despite your disclaimer, you have in fact "stooped to being ad hominem". . .less

by Graham on April 16 2012, 13:34Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

The Mbeki defenceMajavu seems to use a slight variation of the Mbeki Defence against RWJ where any criticism is not factually rebutted but derided as racist and "untransformed". The refuge of the intellectual pygmy. Whew, a whole 73 (seventy three) intellectuals . .more protested! A landslide. . .less

by Sidwell on April 16 2012, 14:02Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Yes Anthony?Anthony

If there were no "Bantu Education", then who would have educated the large unwashed?

The small cotegory of Boers, improverished after the Boer War? They would have done it?

Or rather, the even smaller, but rich . .more and victorious Anglos? They would have done what some of my family members did, and go teach in schools populated by blacks, or even better, they would have opened up the posh private schools for the kids to the large unwashed?

If not either, then who?

Methinks that South Africa produced a best educated population in Africa, where education, for the most part, are worse today than in 1960.

We have not had Bantu education now for 20 years, and education in SA is still a C***-up. So please lay of the rhetoric and start to deal with realities and facts.

by Plutarch on April 16 2012, 19:02Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

State -- of mindJeremy said ....And the trouble, too, is that there’s often a ghost of “truth” and even sometimes accuracy in what Johnson writes. What’s offensive is what he does with his insight/s and of course his tone.----------

I think that he was . .more just really tired , fed up and dispirited , and could care less and so just let his thoughts go free in a wild attempt to push the envelope -- but lacked the very special Jeremy Chutzpah

Chutzpah (play /ˈhʊtspə/) is the quality of audacity, for good or for bad. The Yiddish word derives from the Hebrew word ḥuṣpâ (חֻצְפָּה), meaning "insolence", "audacity"